Paper fastener



Jan. 15

- F. J. POTTER PAPER FASTENER Filed NOV. 16, 1920 Patented Jan. 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS JOHN ro'rrna, or Lonnon, ENGLAND.

PAPER FASTENER.

Application filed November 16, 1920. Serial No. 424,426.

its object being to provide such a construction of fastener as shall readily .enable a paper or papers to be detached from the middle, or some position other than-at the ends, of a file held together by ,a fastener without disarranging the remainder of the papers:

The present invention therefore provides atwo-part paper-fastener whereof each part has a head and a tongue extending therefrom and one part or each has the said head formed or apertured to receive the tongue of the fellow part, so that the parts are held together if either or both tongues are bent over after traversing the head of the fellow part.

Conveniently, one or each of the said parts is formed of a single piece of sheet metal whereof the tongue portion has been folded back over one side of the head and passed through an aperture therein (for example the aperture which also receives the tongue of the fellow part) to extend from the opposite side of the head.

As further illustrating this invention, one construction is now described in detail with the aid of the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 shows in perspective and on an enlarged scale one part of a fastener;

Figure 2 shows in perspective the two parts of the fastener interconnected and fastening a file of papers together; and

Figure 3 shows the parts of Figure 2 in position ready for interconnection or alternatively after they have been separated for the removal of a middle paper from the file.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

The fastener comprises two parts each stamped from pliable sheet metal, such for example as soft brass, the stamping being in the form of a strip narrow at one end at 10 and wider at the other at 11, the narrow portion constituting the tongue, and the wider portion constituting the head. In the centre of the head portion is a rectangular or other shaped aperture 12. The

stampings having been prepared, the tongue portion 10 of each is bent over towards the head and threaded through the aperture 12 in it, this operation being continued until the tongue extends at right-angles to the plane of the head and on the opposite side of the latter to that on which it was bent over as shown in full lines in Figure 1. The aperture is made at least large enough not only to receive the tongue attached, but also to receive the tongue of the other part of the fastener and is preferably sufficiently large to afford an easy clearance for the two tongues. It will be understood, of course,

that two stampings with their tongues and heads constitute a single fastener.

In use the two parts are placed opposite to one another as in Figure 3 with their tongues 10 extending towards one another, and the tongues are passed each through the aperture 12 in the head of its fellow, the papers 13 being threaded u on both the tw tongues thus arranged. onveniently the papers are all threaded upon one tongue and the other tongue then passed through the slot in the papers at the side of the first tongue. The part are so put together that the roots of the tongues extend on opposite sides of the tongues, and the parts are pressed to ether to clamp the papers sufficiently, w ereupon the free end of each tongue is bent over the corresponding head in the direction away from the root of the tongue on that head as in Figure 2.

hen it is desired to remove a paper from, say, the middle of the file thus held together, the free ends of the ongues are bent back into line with the bodies of the tongues, the papers to one side of that which is to be detached are held with the thumb and finger to the head on their side of the middle of the file, and those on the opposite side are similarly held against the other head. The two halves thus held are then drawn apart, as for example as shown in Figure 3, whereupon the paper to be detached falls free of the file or may be lifted free. The papers in the two halves are retained in their proper sequence until the detached paper is replaced and the file remade, or the file may be remade without the detached paper by re-threading the tongues and bending them over again.

In some cases it may be desirable to make each fastener of two parts dissimilar, in that one has a long tongue and the other a short, provided that the short tongue is of sufii cient length j us o or nearly to traverse the thickest file to be handled. In such case the locking together of the two parts will depend upon the bending over of the longer only of the two tongues.

It is to be understood that the above described method of constructing each part outof a single piece of metal with the tongue threaded through its own head is given by way of illustration only, and other methods of construction fall within the scope of this invention, provided they comprise two parts whereof each part has a head and a tongue and the head of one, at least, is formed or apertured to receive the tongue of the fellow part. Thus the two parts of,

the fastener could be each formed by bending a length of wire to the requiredform. What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a paper fastener, in combination, a p'air'ot fastening elements, each of said elements being formed of a single sheet of 25 pliable tongue extending therefrom, the

head of one part being apertured to receive he tongue of the other part, a blank form ing one part thereof comprising a straight metal strip which isbro'adened at one end to form a head'. the broadened portion being provided with an aperture adapted to permit the passage therethrough, both of the straight portion of said blank and of the similar portion of the other part of the fastener.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

FRANCIS JOHN POTTER. 

